Emmett Jessee is a PhD student with a focus on sociophonetics, speech perception, and linguistic anthropology. Previously, he received his B.A. in Linguistics and LGBTQ+ & Sexuality Studies from the University of Michigan and his M.A. in Linguistics from the University of Colorado Boulder. He is interested in how identity is constructed in the voice, looking at the role speakers, individual perceivers, and power structures in a given society all play in this construction. They have primarily focused on language and gender, particularly in trans communities, with their current work investigating the role of the perceiver in trans identity construction in the United States. He is also interested in semiotic approaches to speech perception research to better understand the different cognitive processes that lend themselves to the perception of minoritized voices.